In Memoriam
by Demonic Angel Clone
Summary: You don't know what you have until its gone/ /  When Ben gets into a serious car accident, Adrian is left to pick up the pieces of his lost memories. "Adrian smiles. This is the last time I'm ever going to see you, she doesn't say."
1. Once Loved and Almost Lost

**In Memoriam**

* * *

><p><em>Once Loved and Almost Lost<em>

* * *

><p>She starts running, panic and urgency surging through her veins.<p>

After the baby died, she lied in bed and then slowly after that began walking, but the walk progresses into a fearful run as her cellphone lies forgotten on the floor of her condo. She fumbles with her key for a moment before opening her car door and sliding it into the ignition, revving the engine to life. She backs out, narrowly avoiding a rear end collision before heading out on the highway, as it's the quickest way to the hospital from her neighborhood. Her hands grip the steering wheel to try to force herself to stop shaking and her vision is blurry at best and she blinks away the stinging in her eyes.

She pulls into the hospital parking lot and rushes out of the car, sprinting through the automatic doors and gripping the edge of the reception desk before she knows it. "Ben Boykewich," She says quickly. "He was just admitted; I heard he was in a car accident."

The receptionist blinks, bewildered for a moment, before typing in the name in the computer in front of her. The elderly woman nods, "Yes, he's in the ICU, but only family is allowed in there for the time being."

"I'm his wife," Adrian blurts out before she can process the words.

The woman's eyes widen considerably. "He is barely eighteen years old."

Adrian raises up her left hand and confronts her with the large sapphire resting on her engagement ring finger as proof of her point. The receptionist's eyes practically bulge. She nods quickly, convinced, "Proceed down the hallway through the double doors and the room is on the right."

Adrian says her clipped thanks before rushing off, leaving the receptionist stunned in her wake and she finds the small room lined with a few chairs, a snack machine and three sets of parents, and Alice and Henry, seated on opposite sides of the room.

Leo and Reuben are the first to see her and the latter sighs at the sight of his daughter.

Cindy walks up and embraces Adrian, but Adrian is numbed at the lack of answers. She regards Leo, "How is he?"

With a heavy sigh, Leo shakes his head with a crack in his normally calm voice, "Not good. He's still in critical condition."

Adrian's breath is lodged deep in the back of her throat and she's biting her lower lip, suppressing a whimper. Her eyes well and she doesn't even try to prevent the breaking of a sea of tears from escaping. One tear stream down her cheek, then another down the other, and Cindy grips her that much tighter.

The room after that becomes otherwise silent.

She doesn't know how to feel about this. She's worried and scared, and angry and distraught. What if he dies and she never sees him again? When she received the phone call it was as if a blow had been delivered right to her gut and she was breathless. She wanted to believe it was a joke at first, and she began laughing, hysterically, but her mother was deathly silent over the line and as soon as it hit her, she dropped her phone without another thought and left the condo.

So here she is, in a dreary increasingly small waiting room, and she keeps looking at her sapphire, twisting it around her third finger until she can't see it anymore because her world has become a flurry of colors and dim light. "Adrian," her father whispers by her side. She looks over and he's blurry too and her face feels wet and she doesn't know why.

Rueben wipes her tears, "He's going to be fine."

"How do you know?" Adrian hears, and it sounds as if the question had come from a strangled animal and not her own full lips. "What if he's not?" She whispers harshly, low enough so that Leo can't easily hear her.

"You have to stay strong for him, Adrian."

But how can she when her world is tilting on its axis, _again_? How can she when one more important person in her life is on the cusp of leaving her? Is she truly meant to be alone, is this what this all means?

Adrian doesn't answer. She just nods, numbly. She has to stay strong, she just has to.

* * *

><p>It's been a while. Seven hours, to be exact. They've been here all night and no one's really said a word. Alice and Henry have maintained a distance rivaling Asia and Antarctica, as impossible as that seems. Ben cut Henry off months ago so the fact that he's here now is something she wonders how he managed, but then again, she's here too, so who is she to judge?<p>

Leo solemnly stands by the glass of the room, staring. And by his side is Camille, stoking his back in a loving fashion. If anyone didn't deserve to have this happen, it's him. She feels sorry that she contributed. Sorry that he became a young grandfather and that his son divorced before he was eighteen and is now in critical condition because of a habit that he probably would've never developed if she hadn't stepped into his Honda that one night. She isn't so dense not to think that her _one_ action didn't carry a rippling effect on everyone in this room because it did.

Bunny, the woman with a quick tongue, has been quiet except for the occasional sob, a tear down her cheek. Her husband rubs her back consolingly and her other daughter sniffs, wiping her eyes.

And finally, Adrian is between her parents, Cindy on her left and Rueben on her right. The fact that they're here, it almost wants to boggle her mind but the fact of the matter is that Cindy developed a soft spot for Ben, admiring him for how he was with Adrian during the pregnancy and after, and Rueben typically regarded Ben as a son; who knows how many times she walked in on them having a phone conversation or exchanging advice. Or the fact that Cindy texted Ben daily while they were married, and even after they got divorced.

Just the fact that they maintained such a bond with him almost angers her because she's their daughter and he's an ex, but it's very halfhearted at this point, an almost nonexistent smoldering below it all. If they didn't share such a bond then she might not have known he was in a car accident tonight, or rather yesterday night, now that it's early morning.

It'll happen that Rueben will pace the room or Henry will chew on the crescent of his thumb or Alice will tap her foot or Bunny will break out in a muffled sob and the stifling silence of the room is broken.

It's when it returns that Adrian panics again. It was like the one and only time she dared to go to Mercy's grave, her funeral. The sun was tauntingly bright but the air was still and the birds were silent and everything was quiet and wrong, wrong, wrong. Mercy should've buried her and Ben, not the other way around.

It's just like that, all over again. She stands and leaves the room and it isn't until she reaches the end of the hallway that she breaks down, sliding against the wall and crouching down in her heels with her head in her hands.

"You know, crying isn't going to make this okay."

She doesn't look up. Adrian nods, wiping her face, and clearing away the lump in her throat before standing. Because of her boots, Adrian stands taller than the five foot tall Asian girl.

"You're talking to me." It's a statement, not a question.

"Ben told me what happened," Alice supplies.

"I still slept with your boyfriend." Adrian counters.

"Ex."

"It's not like you two aren't going to get back together, eventually," Adrian says practically.

Alice crosses her arms. "Do you want me to hate you?"

Adrian considers this. Alice wouldn't be the first to do so, and is most likely not the last in her lifetime, and even though the girl never warmed up to her, and probably never will, she doesn't want to burn anymore bridges. Not now and probably not ever again if for some miracle Ben makes it through this. "If you're going to do it, then do it, but..." She says this lower, "No, I don't want you to hate me."

"Fine, I don't."

"Good."

The girls don't say anything after that. It's not like they've really talked before, or really consider each other friends or anything like that so she guesses they've said all they have to say.

"Ben asked me what he should do, last night, and I told him he should go out with Dylan," Alice blurts out unexpectedly.

Adrian looks over at her and then back to the opposite wall. "It's not like you're a clairvoyant. You didn't know that this was going to happen."

"He wanted to go see you," the small Asian girl continues. "And I told him to go have fun with Dylan and now-"

"Stop right there," Adrian cuts across her declaration, knowing where she's heading with it. She looks directly at her so that the girl doesn't misunderstand. "Look. We're not going to make this a rehash of the time Grace blamed herself for her father's death. The fact is that you were trying to be a good friend to Ben and there was no possible way for you to know that this would happen."

"Didn't you hear me, Adrian?" Alice reiterates quietly, "Ben wanted to go see _you_."

"I heard you," she says, wishing she didn't. "But this is not your fault, it's no one's fault, and all we can do is hope they're going to be okay. And Ben? He's going to be okay, he's a lot stronger than people give him credit for. And Dylan's Bunny's daughter so she'll be okay too." She says this firmly, so much so that even she believes it, even if for a moment. The truth is that she's so scared she'll say anything to boost morale. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying and a lack of sleep and it reminds her so much of how she felt a few months ago after she had Mercy.

"Listen, you and Henry need to stop this. Learn something from Ben and I's mistake. Life is too short for this and I _know_ Henry loves you, and I _know_ you love him."

"_Henry_ broke up with _me_!"

"Then don't let him walk away!" Adrian retorts. "And don't say that you're respecting his wishes, it's all bullshit! All he talked about was you, and I see the way he looks at you when you're not looking. Stop thinking of reasons why you shouldn't be together and start thinking of reasons why you should."

Alice blinks, and then nods quickly. Adrian doesn't know if she was talking about her, or herself.

She wants to just crawl in a hole and just sleep, but she has to stay strong.

She has to.

* * *

><p>They head back to the waiting room and it's close to six in the morning now. Alice heads to Henry's side by the snack machine, and holds his hand, no words said and Adrian wishes them the best because they deserve it. Camille and Leo have both settled down into seats and Adrian decides to stand by the glass, too filled with adrenaline to sit down. Cindy stands up, goes by her side, and rubs her lower back and Adrian rests her head on her mother's shoulder.<p>

A few minutes pass and through one of the double doors, a doctor emerges. The room stands still on alert. Dylan's parents and Leo are quickly out of their seats and on the other side of the room where the doctor meets them. "Your daughter is going to pull through," he breathes and a visible weight is literally lifted from their shoulders. "She's going to pull through just fine."

"And Ben?" Leo asks, voice gravelly. "What about my son?"

"Your son is going to be fine as well, he's in the last stages of his surgery, and family can come in, in about another hour or so." The doctor nods. "Who is kin here?"

"Everyone," Leo says, and Adrian takes her head off of Cindy's shoulder to look at him. "That's his sister and brother," Leo says, regarding Alice and Henry. "And that young lady right there is my daughter-in law," and Adrian's eyes well over. Even after everything she put his son through, he still considers her family. He doesn't owe her anything, and yet he still finds a way to give her everything.

The doctor nods, surveying everyone, and doesn't question it. "It's going to have to be one at a time, at the moment. Since there are so many. For right now, his physical state is stable but unlike the young lady, he suffered severe head trauma so only time will tell how he will react upon waking up."

Adrian knows there's more to this; there has to be because why mention it? Always with a legal state of mind, she knows he's putting all of this delicately and on a need to know basis.

But her heart is swelling because Benny is going to be fine. He's going to be fine and everything is as it's supposed to be, with Ben still alive.

She exhales and finally, it's like she can breathe again. Ben's alive. It's all that matters.

Bunny and her family go into Dylan's room at the same time, since it's only the three of them.

The waiting room is quiet, but there's a renewed energy, especially now that Leo has gone in, but then who gets to go after that?

She's being ridiculous. Adrian _knows_ she's being ridiculous. She has the _least_ claim over going at all. She's just an ex. She once mothered his child and she's not in his life anymore. All she really has is a ring, her gorgeous sapphire ring. She looks down at it again, and it's more than just a ring. It's symbolic of their time together, it's his favorite color, and _even if it takes him 20 years, he wants that ring to be hers._

Alice and Henry come up to her, hand in hand. "We want you to go before us," They say in unison, and she never thought she'd be happy to see them back to their dorky Asian selves. Adrian shakes her head automatically but Alice isn't hearing a thing of it. "I told you he wanted to see you last night, and I'm sure that there was a reason for that," Alice says with a small smile.

Adrian finds herself growing fond of this girl. No wonder she's Ben's best friend. She nods and stands nervously when the waiting room door opens and Leo comes out, brow line creased. Immediately Camille goes by his side, "How is he?" The blonde asks.

"His condition is stable, thank God," Leo breathes. The crease grows deeper, "He just looks so…_broken_, you know? He's not going to be awake for a while," He shakes his head and turns to the room at large. "The room is open guys, only one at a time."

Alice and Henry turn to Adrian, Henry giving her an encouraging nod, and Adrian takes a deep breath and walks up to Leo. She bites her lower lip and she's so grateful for the man in front of her but doesn't really know how to convey it. "Mr. Boykewich…"

He gathers her in his large arms and she leans her head on his shoulder, "Thank you." She says finally.

She lets him go and walks past him to the double doors, dreading every step it takes to get to his room.

On the way, she sees Bunny and her family leave Dylan's room which is opposite of Ben's, and Bunny looks Adrian up and down before leaving. And yes, Adrian knows the woman doesn't like her, and Adrian couldn't give two fucks. As far as she's concerned, Dylan got Ben high and rode passenger with him behind the wheel; she's no one to judge her. She stands with her head held high and walks right past them without another glance. So _what_ if their daughter is Ben's girlfriend and she's his ex? That doesn't mean that she doesn't care about him, not by a longshot.

She grips the handle to the room, and pauses. She closes her eyes, takes a shuddering breath, and opens them again. And then she twists the knob.

The room is a single, of course, and spacious, but still a hospital room with a hospital bed and the same sterile, cold chill that death passed by here at one point. Ben, or a shadow of Ben at least, is on the cot, covered by a sheet and one leg suspended in the air by a lift and concealed in a cast. The _blip_ of his pulse from the heart monitor mirrors the speed of every step it takes for her to reach his bedside and when she finally is close enough to peer at his face, she almost wishes she didn't.

A gash, neatly stitched, is above his left eyebrow and the entire right portion of his face is bruised a purple deep enough to almost match obsidian. A wire connected to the septum of his nose for oxygen, another through his deltoid for the IV. From his brow line up, covered in gauze, and she brushes her fingers against the bandage and underneath is a tuff of hair. So the doctors didn't have to shave of his head, and there's one thing that's normal, at least.

She lightly traces the pad of her finger across his left cheek, and winces when she feels another cut that was out of view before. She retracts her hand like it was something scalded, and then returns her thumb to run across his lower lip. His right eye is swollen shut, and his left is plainly untouched, as if it could open at any moment.

"Damn it Benny…" She murmurs with a shake of her head. "What'd you do? Why couldn't you just-"

* * *

><p>"<em>Call me," Adrian smirks with flirtatious eyes, and the pad of her manicured thumb brushes against Ben's stunned lips.<em>

* * *

><p>Adrian's eyes squeeze shut defiantly and she covers her mouth to suppress the sob bubbling from her throat. She swallows past another lump and opens her eyes, red and focused, "I would have come. I would have been pissed at you, but I still would have come. And why are you doing this? Why are you doing drugs and hurting yourself like this? You're a -"<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>-rich kid. He's been totally protected his whole life from anything messy like this. I mean, he's a nice guy. He's a romantic guy, but I don't think he can deal with reality. Not this kind of reality, not without suffering the rest of his life."<em>

* * *

><p>Her eyes start stinging again, and she wipes it with her index finger. Settling down in the seat next to his bedside, she finds his hand lying limply by his side, a bandage around his palm from where he tried to stop the impact, and she reaches out and clasps it in her own. Her hands are small and warm and his is large and cold and she traces on of the protruding veins with her thumb, rubbing her hands against his and hoping that some of the warmth with transfer to him, somehow.<p>

"Ben Boykewich," Adrian says clearly. "You're not going leave me, okay? I can't deal with it. You _promised_ me that you'd never leave me-"

* * *

><p>"<em>Even if we're nothing more than friends," Ben tells her with the confidence she adores.<em>

* * *

><p>"And you don't lie, so don't start now." Adrian shakes her head, "Remember when you told me that we'd always need each other, and I told you I didn't need anyone?" She asks, heart pounding in her ears, not waiting for a reply. "I lied. I lied because I didn't want to get hurt the way I did when Mercy died, ever again. And I didn't want to rely on anyone the way I relied on you because it hurt me when you didn't want me around. And I wanted to hurt you the same way you hurt me, so I pushed you away. And I kept pushing you away because I didn't want to face you after everything I put you through. I couldn't even face what I put you through and you <em>know<em> that I _never_ regret anything," She says with a teasing smile, as if Ben would wake up in the next moment and agree.

He doesn't. The only thing that answers her is an echoing _blip_.

Her smile wanes. "The only thing I truly regret is hurting you. We both hurt each other, intentionally and unintentionally, and… I need you, Ben." She rests her chin on the rail beside his bed with half lidded eyes.

The room is quiet again with the exception of his pulse, still there, still beating, still strong, and she still rubs his hand, which has warmed considerably since she started and for the first time in a while, she lets the _blip_…_blip_…_blip_…

Lull her to sleep.

* * *

><p>Crap. Another story. <em>Somebody stop me!<em>

But seriously, this plotbunny has been in my mind for a while. You're going to have to bear with me (like usual) and it will make more sense as it goes on. I'm in university now, so I'll try to keep updates frequent (but I suck at that, so, no promises)

I tried to keep things as accurate as possible, with HIPAA in mind, and the waiting room and whatnot, but I'm sure I got something wrong (so I ask that this is ignored).

Reviews save baby seals, so you should save one. :)

DAC


	2. To Have Never Loved At All

**In Memoriam**

* * *

><p><em>To Have Never Loved At All<em>

* * *

><p>She leaves the room, rubbing her eyes and she knows everyone thinks she was crying just now, but she really wasn't.<p>

Since she asked, told, demanded, Ben to move out, she doesn't sleep as much. She has to take Benadryl to move the process along and she usually hates it because of the groggy aftereffect. So the fact that she was able to sleep with him in the room just now, doesn't surprise her much. Or maybe she was so exhausted, her body's only choice was to do that, now that she knew Ben was safe again after hours and hours of worrying.

After what felt like forever, even though the clock confirms that it was only five minutes, she leaves the room and her parents are waiting for her at the end of the hall.

Alice and Henry pass her, anxious for their turn, and she smiles at the fact that they're completely disregarding the rule and are going in together. It figures, though, since she never really got used to seeing one without the other.

Cindy puts her arm around Adrian's waist and Rueben gives her a kiss on her forehead. Adrian looks around but neither Leo or Camille are in sight. "Where's Leo?"

"We told him and Camille to go and get some rest," Rueben says with a tired smile. "Staying here isn't going to make him wake up any faster."

Adrian nods in agreement.

She knows she's eighteen and she's pretty much used to being on her own, but-

"Can I go home with you guys?" She asks with a yawn.

"Of course, baby," Cindy nods.

She just doesn't want to be alone right now.

* * *

><p>The next day is Sunday and Adrian is headfirst into her soft old bedroom pillows and the sunlight streams through her window brightly, but instead of yielding to it, she rolls onto her side and opts for <em>not<em> waking up early as usual.

Well, almost.

She's prodded in her side at first, but she waves the intrusion away. And then she hears an insistent "Adrian. Adrian!" in her ears and she whines. "Ugh, leave me _alone_." Last time she let herself get interrupted with something she was doing, Ben got in a car accident. As far as she's concerned, _no_ news is _good_ news.

"But Adrian! It's Sunday! Didn't you hear that Ben got in a car accident last night?"

Adrian groans, already gritting her teeth. Yes, it's Sunday, and yes, she heard that Ben got into a car accident last night; she was kind of in the waiting room. "What's your point?"

The blonde sitting on her comforter sighs, and then gently pokes her arm again, repeatedly. "Let's go to church today."

_What_?

Adrian's eyes pop open and she shifts herself in an upright position on her bedspread, brushing back her hair with her hand. "What?"

Grace shrugs.

"_Why_?"

"Because Ben's our friend -or, well, he's my friend and you're whatever-he-is to you. And we should just, go."

Adrian blinks. At the present moment, where her bed feels so deliciously warm and she's inching towards sleep, none of those seem like good enough reasons. "Ben's fine," She says, head landing on her pillow again. "Or, he's as fine as could be expected, considering he was in a car crash."

"How could you be so nonchalant about this?" Grace asks incredulously. "He could've _died_ last night; doesn't that mean _anything_ to you?"

It's too damn early. Well, it's actually not, but it still is. "_Whatever_," Adrian snips out, just to spite her best friend. She doesn't even know if she could put into words how scared out of her mind she was, or the exhaustion of not knowing his condition, or the sheer fact that her world could've _finally_ been ripped out from underneath her.

No, it's too early.

"Adrian!" Grace admonishes. Adrian feels the bed lift and could practically feel the heat of the glare the blonde was directing to her. She fights the urge to roll her eyes.

Adrian gets up and shifts into a sitting position, her legs dangling off the edge of her bed. "Okay, look. I was there, Grace. At the hospital. And he's _fine_."

Grace takes a breath of relief at the declaration and her eyes soften. "Did you see him?" She asks softly.

Adrian shakes her head, "I didn't bother, okay? Can we drop it?"

Grace crosses her arms defiantly. "Fine. But we're still going to church."

What the fuck? "What part of _'drop it'_ didn't you get?"

"Oh, stop it, Adrian." Grace scoffs. "I know you like to pretend religion isn't important to you, but it is."

"Oh _really_? Where's your proof?" Adrian stands with crossed arms of her own, challenging her.

"Mercy," She says with a humorless smile.

_Checkmate_.

Adrian really does roll her eyes this time, to cover up the sting. "It's just a name." It's _just_ a name. She thought it was cute, so why not? It's not like her best friend had any influence over it, and it's not like it isn't a word. It's just a name. "And you know what? I'm not _pretending_ religion isn't important to me, _it isn't_! And I'm _not_ going to church. Since when has _church_ done anything for me? Huh? Or did you forget that Mercy _still_ died and Ben almost did?"

"It could happen to anyone, Adrian!" Grace retorts. "And you don't mean that, you're just hurt right now."

"I know what I mean, and I _mean_ it. _I'm not going_."

"Fine!" Grace stomps out of the room without preamble, and Adrian is left staring at the doorway.

It isn't any more than five seconds before Grace creeps back in the room. She leans against the jamb of the door with proturbant shining eyes. "Just come with me."

Adrian raises an eyebrow. "No."

Grace looks down, twiddling with her fingers, and then a smile comes on her face and she cranes her head playfully. "I'll teach you how to make those cookies Ben likes when you go visit him again."

"I'm not _going_ to visit him."

"You're acting like a kid."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am _not_."

"Are _toooo_..."

To further demonstrate her point on how _not_ childish she's acting, Adrian sticks her tongue out at her.

Grace scoffs and rolls her eyes. "How mature."

And it gets quiet, until both girls burst out in laughter at the situation.

"So...when are you going to get dressed, so you could come with me?" Grace asks with a cheeky smile.

"You're not going to drop this, are you?" Adrian asks cynically.

"_Nope_," Grace exclaims proudly, popping the _p_.

Adrian scowls, but it's really half-hearted, and maybe even less than that, more like a knee-jerk reaction. "_Fine_."

* * *

><p>Leo Boykewich is a man that had to work for everything he had ever gotten in his life.<p>

So even as a single father, raising a son on his own was something he never foresaw; luckily his son was a good boy, even growing up to be a fine young man, minus a few misgivings.

But he never expected him to lose loved ones twice in his short lifetime, once with his mother Sarah, may she rest in peace, and the second being his daughter Mercy who never stood a chance. And he never expected _his son_ to cope with it by use of drugs and alcohol. As a father, he's tried everything and it seems the more he tries to protect his son is the more he fails.

He's failed to protect his own son.

Leo clears his throat in his seat by Ben's bedside, almost wishing he didn't urge Camille to go to the office today. But he needs her there in order to have access to resources, such as medical records and his lawyer.

"Mr. Boykewich," Dr. Peterson greets, and Leo stands, shakes his hand. The man who saved his son's life.

"Please, call me Leo." He says while lowering his hand.

"Very well," The doctor agrees. "Prior to the surgery last night, I had to run tests on both your son, and the young lady accompanying him, and we found that both of them were not only under the influence of marijuana, but your son was in possession of two ounces of the substance, which is above the legal limit of 28 and a half grams."

Leo exhales slowly, the information sinking in. He nods when he gathers his bearings.

Dr. Peterson continues, "Because of the fact that the car accident was caused by your son and that he was in possession of the plant outside medical use, I'm required by state law to report this to the authorities."

"I understand," Leo says voice low. "When should I be expecting them?"

"Within the hour, sir. I'm sorry," The middle-aged doctor apologizes, but Leo nods genially until the doctor leaves the room and lowers his head in his hands for a moment afterward.

What is he going to do to protect his son now?

He takes out his cellphone, and calls the office. "Camille, call the company lawyer and send him the address of the hospital. And leave a message for Rueben Enriquez to stop by my house at his earliest convenience."

* * *

><p>They leave Adrian's old house and detour to the condo so that she could take a proper shower and get dressed.<p>

Adrian unlocks the door and goes in and notices her cellphone on the floor by the couch, where she received the call last night. She unlocks the screen and notices that she has five missed calls, all from Grace. With a piqued brow, she faces her best friend, showing her the message on her home screen.

Grace smiles sheepishly. "I tried to get a hold of you this morning, but you didn't answer. So I came over and knocked, and you still didn't answer. So then I called again and listened by the door and heard your phone but then I realized that your car wasn't in the parking lot, so I called your dad and he told me you were at his house, so I went there and woke you up."

That long winded explanation could've only come from Grace. Adrian nods and then her lower lip protrudes in thought. "You have my dad's number?"

The blonde nods with the enthusiasm of a lap dog. "He called me once to find out where you were and it turns out you were at Ben's house."

Adrian sighs. It figures Grace would exchange contact information with her father; she probably has her mother's number too. "Alright Cookie," Adrian says blandly. "Give me five minutes."

Five minutes is really twenty in girl time, even when Grace nags from the living room that they're late and Adrian concurs, saying that they might as well be fashionably late.

They leave the condo, Grace in a respectable sundress and shrug and Adrian in a blouse and form-fitting skirt that ends an inch below her outer thighs. When Grace quirks a brow, Adrian rolls her eyes, "Oh please, as if you haven't seen me in worse."

They get to the church and they're the only one driving up, showing that they're really the only ones that are late since they take so long looking for a parking space. "What's the deal with church this Sunday? It's not like you ask me to go with you usually," Adrian points out as they walk up the front steps.

"I made a call and got a portion of the service dedicated to Ben," Grace stage whispers as they enter the front and proceed through the lobby. Adrian doesn't really know how comfortable she feels about that, and it feels worse when Grace opens one of the double doors and they slip in.

The sermon is being projected loudly due to the several strategically placed speakers around the large room and Adrian almost wishes it were Reverend Stone delivering it, as she would've been more inclined to listen. As it stands, it's not, and she almost feels like nodding off when they sit in the far back until she notices Amy seated in the middle of the crowd with John in her lap and Ricky by her side.

Adrian pokes Grace in her side, who turns to her slightly startled. "Amy and _Ricky _go to church?"

Grace nods, "Every Sunday for a while now. Are you really that surprised?" She asks to Adrian's stunned face. "Amy works here, John goes to daycare here."

"And _Ricky_?"

Grace shrugs, "I guess being with them makes him want to be more involved. He volunteers sometimes and he even got Mr. Boykewich to cater Easter, free of charge."

Adrian looks back at the small family, Amy stroking John's head absently, Ricky's arm around her waist, and it's bittersweet, more bitter than sweet.

Maybe _she_would've been more agreeable about going to church with Ben, if Mercy were still alive.

But she's not, and Adrian's trying not to let her mindset go there, but it does anyways.

* * *

><p>The service ends, though not quickly enough in Adrian's opinion.<p>

The only part she found herself paying attention to was when the Reverend mentioned Ben and Dylan, and asked the crowd to bow their heads in prayer for them, and she guesses that part was okay.

But really, enough is enough.

"Can we go already?" Adrian whines in Grace's ear. She gets antsy around too much God and Jesus talk.

Grace huffs. "Okay, okay, I just have to go say hi to the Deacon and then we can go," She says with a nod, flitting off.

And Adrian has to hand it to her; for someone who embarrassed herself in front of the entire young church population and was informally kicked out of TAG, the Teen Abstinence Group, since abstinence was a ship that long sailed for Grace, she's still very much into this..._stuff_.

And she would probably get on her case for calling it stuff, but whatever.

She rubs at her arms with her hands, uncomfortable and alone in this crowd of people she wouldn't be around otherwise, and she's just hoping no one recognizes her or approaches her.

"Adrian!"

Too late.

"Hey," Jack greets, walking over with a questioning smile. "Are you going to church now?"

Adrian laughs ironically. "You know me, always doing something crazy."

It would've been nice to get a chuckle, but Jack continues looking at her seriously and Adrian realizes that he doesn't get the joke.

She sighs, "Did you figure out where you're going to college yet?"

His smile returns, "UCLA."

She smiles back, "Me too."

He doesn't say anything after that, and so neither does Adrian.

"You know, I'm _really_ no good at small talk," Adrian remarks.

"No, you've definitely gotten better."

"Really?" She asks, genuinely pleased. "Thanks."

Grace comes back over, much to Adrian's relief. "Hello, Jack."

"Hey Grace," Jack nods.

Adrian looks at both of them in a bored fashion, and rolls her eyes. "Can you guys continue the eye sex when you get home? I _really_ want to go."

"Hey, Adrian, I'm sorry about Ben, tell him I said hey when you go visit." Jack tells her earnestly, and then walks off into the congregal crowd.

Why does everyone assume she's going to visit? She's _just_ an _ex_.

* * *

><p>Because Grace is a woman of her word, she immediately drives them back to her kitchen and before Adrian can blink, Grace already has all of the necessary ingredients laid out on the counter. "Did we really need all this?" Adrian asks skeptically, frowning at the array of chocolate chips, white and brown, flour, and milk. "Don't you use an instamix or something? I know your tricks, <em>Cookie<em>."

Grace gasps, "That was like, _one time_!"

"Uh-huh," Adrian nods, unconvinced. "You know, I don't need this recipe." Ben always did like her brownies, anyways.

"No, I've been meaning to teach it to you, and what better time than the present?" Grace chirps, whipping the flour and butter with milk. "Besides, Ben really did like these cookies."

Adrian smirks, "I'm sure you had something to do with that."

Grace's smile is strained, uncharacteristic for her. "No, I didn't." Then, quieter, "I think if it was a choice between me and my cookies, and _you_…"

But Adrian can't deal with this conversation right now. "Can we not talk about that?"

"Of course," Grace readily agrees, but Adrian knows it's because she's not ready to deal with that either.

With a platter of freshly baked cookies that Grace undeniably made by scratch –"You _could_ have just used the instamix"- Adrian has spent all day, kind of grateful for this blonde she calls a best friend. Because she hasn't been back to the hospital and she's hoping to avoid that place for as long as possible.

"We should go visit Ben, maybe take some of these to him," Grace says thoughtfully. "Depending on the severity of the car crash, or lack thereof, he could be awake by now."

"Way to go_, Dr. Bowman_," Adrian snips. "But I doubt he's going to be up anytime soon."

Grace's brow furrows. "I thought you said you didn't see him."

"I didn't," Adrian says quickly. "It's just things I've heard, is all."

"So, do you want to go?" Grace asks her.

"_No_."

Grace pouts as they walk out to the car, and she hands the cookie platter to Adrian since she's sitting passenger, "Well, _I_ want to go and he's my friend. And since you're _my_ friend, you could just come with me."

Adrian sighs, looking down at the assorted cookies, "Do we _have_ to?"

"_Yes_!" Grace exclaims, giving her friend a suspicious glance, "Wouldn't you want Ben there for you, if something like this happened to you?"

But something _already_ happened to her, Adrian thinks. And Ben _was_ there.

Adrian doesn't answer in words, she just gets in the car, much to Grace's approval, and since her house is so close to the hospital, they arrive there in around seven minutes, thanks to the freeway.

They park in the lot and Adrian notices a man in a _Boss_ tailor made suit talking to Bunny and her husband near the front of the hospital's entrance. Grace notices that she's distracted and follows her line of vision soundlessly. "Who are they talking to?"

"Alex Jennings," Adrian supplies the name without another thought. "He's a District attorney." Adrian thinks back to how the woman looked at her the other night, and the fact that she barely said two words to Leo in the waiting room, when he's her main employer. "You don't think they would sue Leo, do you?" Adrian inquires thoughtfully, the cogs moving with precision in her mind.

Grace looks at her suddenly, "Do you think they would? That Bunny would? But isn't her daughter the one that supplied Ben with the pot?" She asks with a furrowed brow.

"Doesn't matter," Adrian answers easily. "Their daughter wasn't the one behind the wheel, _Ben_ was. And if they _were_ to sue, I don't know how that defense would work in court." Adrian twists and turns the possible scenarios in her mind for a moment, and then frowns at the different outcomes. "Come on; let's go meet them up front."

"What? _Why_?" Graces whispers nervously, getting out of her car.

"Just follow my lead," Adrian whispers back, plastering on a fake smile on her face.

They step up directly to the three adults in front of them, Alex still leading the conversation, "_Hi_ Bunny." Adrian says loudly enough for the three to look directly at her and Grace.

Bunny stiffly regards them, "Hello, girls."

Adrian stares into the woman's eyes intensely and Grace resists the urge to fidget by presenting the platter of cookies in front of her, "We baked some cookies for Dylan; they're chocolate chip, I hope she likes them." Grace says with a chipper smile and a bright-eyed disposition.

"I'm sure she will," Bunny states tightly, not bothering to look at Grace, but continuously staring at Adrian.

"Yeah," Adrian agrees with a mocking nod. "I'm sure Ben will like them too." And she notices the DA shift at the mention of Ben's name. "Isn't it _funny_ how much those two have in common?"

"_Almost_ as funny as how much _you_ and _Ben_ have in common," Bunny says with a grating smile and a glare. Adrian drops the smile and gives her a glare of her own with crossed arms. "If you girls will excuse us?" The redheaded woman continues.

"_Sure_," Adrian allows, and Bunny walks off with the two men with a surly disposition.

Adrian stares off after them and Grace frowns, "I think you're right, Adrian."

"I was afraid of that," Adrian answers. "Let's go see Ben."

* * *

><p>They get past the receptionist, who makes it a point to mention that visiting hours end at seven on the weekends, and Adrian is back to fiddling with her sapphire as they walk down the hallway to Ben's hospital room. She tries not to make her apprehension known, so she doesn't bother looking down at it. Just because she can't see it, doesn't mean it's not <em>there<em>.

As they approach, the door to the room opens, and out goes two policemen, regarding Leo Boykewich again before they leave. Grace gives them a weak smile as they pass them but it's ignored and Adrian speeds up the pace of her steps.

Adrian steps in first and Leo is standing on the side of the bed away from the door, and his head snaps up at the intrusion. He gives her a small smile, "Hey Adrian."

"Hi, Mr. Boykewich," Adrian greets politely. She didn't know why she thought that Ben may've been awake, just because there were officers in the room. They probably were there to talk to Leo and investigate Ben's condition, which for all intents and purposes, is still the same.

Grace comes in after her with a bright smile that Adrian thinks could blind someone. "Hello Mr. Boykewich! Adrian and I made cookies today and we thought that Ben would like these." She says to the formidable man, who smiles just a little bit more at her enthusiasm and she looks down and notices Ben, a bit taken aback by the sight. She settles the platter on the nightstand beside the bed, "Oh, I hope he gets better soon," the blonde croons.

"Me too, Grace," Leo agrees and then looks at Adrian. "Have you seen your father today?"

"Not since this morning," Adrian replies. "He doesn't stay in the office that long on the weekends though, unless he has a large workload, so he should be home soon."

At this, Leo sighs a breath of relief, "Good, good."

Adrian looks down at Ben and then back up at Leo, "Is there something wrong, Mr. Boykewich?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong," Leo says quickly. "I just wanted to talk to your father, is all. Ask for some advice."

And the only advice he could be seeking from her father is the _legal_ kind. Adrian nods, not wanting to make him feel more worried than what he might already be feeling, "Okay."

"Ah, would you ladies mind if I stepped out? I have to make a call."

"No problem, Mr. Boykewich," Grace says helpfully with Adrian's agreeance, and the Sausage King steps out of the room. Adrian's fingers trace Ben's face again, and the bruise on his face is lighter in color than previously. Grace steps closer, her heart on her sleeve, "Oh, Adrian. I'm so sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry to me?" Adrian asks, voice suddenly thick and eyes swimming as they look down at Ben's beaten face. "I'm not the one in the bed."

Grace stands next to her and rubs her back, and well, Adrian guesses this is why she's her best friend.

* * *

><p>Okay, so some things were set in motion here (and a lot of GraceAdrian lol). I assure you, Ben _will_ wake up in the next chapter, I just had to do this first. So, a bit of filler and seeing where Adrian's mindset is (which is bitter, guarded, and concerned). There's going to be one more _surprise_ in the next chapter, and that's when the _real_ story will start.

Thank yous go out to **Ana**, **Jessica** (_I want the same thing too_), **Pamela**, **PaoHalliwell**, **Staceyandstars** (_yes, I know_!), **BasicHBKnomics** (_a Dylan/Adrian fight, huh? ;)_), and **PowerofThree7** (_oh wow, really? Well, good authors think alike :D_).

So, since I spent possible study time in order to get this chapter out quickly, drop a review? They seriously make me update quicker (it's been like two days!)

DAC


	3. Eyes Wide Open

**In Memoriam**

* * *

><p><em>Eyes Wide Open<em>

* * *

><p>Sitting in the far corner of the room, Adrian Lee, formerly Boykewich, bites the tip of the end of her eraser as she cranes her head over a set of Calculus derivatives splayed out across her lap.<p>

It's not that she necessarily hates math or anything; she's pretty good at it actually. It's just that it's _so_ tedious to work through with the writing of each process in the notation, and it's summer. All of these years of school, and she ends up having to do summer school her last year; the irony's incredible.

It's been about a week since the car accident and Ben still hasn't woken up, but she can't bother to think about that right now. It's the last week of July meaning that it's the last week of summer school and she has to absolutely pour all of her focus in that if she's going to get her official diploma come August.

And then it's onto college.

She shifts her position in the chair, crossing one leg over the other, and thankfully, the room is well air-conditioned and calm, various amounts of floral arrangements with neatly scripted condolences scattered in a decorative fashion throughout. She scratches out the final line of her mathematical notation on her take home quiz, and sighs in relief at the completion of the assignment.

Now it's time for English.

She rubs out the kink in her shoulder with her hand from hunching over for so long and places her work in her book bag, retrieving her copy of _Macbeth_. Luckily, it's her favorite subject and the teacher happened to have been the most empathic to her situation; all she has to do is turn in a five page report, double spaced, on the Shakespeare's intended theme of the play, and all other grades in the course would be forgiven.

She opens the book to where it was last earmarked and starts reading, the _blip_ from the heart monitor in the room maintaining a steady tempo.

Adrian was determined to not visit after that first time. She can't _stand_ hospitals, honestly. But she finds herself in the same place, every day since the accident, for a few hours. Then she goes home, alone, and goes to bed, alone.

She seriously needs a boyfriend. Because while Omar is cute and everything, it's just not as serious as it was when they first met, especially since Dante came back from Europe and said things he really had no business saying. Needless to say, she's done with brothers, both literally and figuratively.

So she comes here every day because it's not like she really has anything better to do and because of other things she doesn't want to come to terms with. She keeps track of Ben's condition every time she steps through the door and now his face is mostly cleared and no longer swelled, and the gauze covering the top portion of his head has been removed.

The door opens and Adrian looks up from her book and smiles when Leo comes in the room with two brown paper bags. He usually brings her a gyro from the chef at his mansion, and she's pretty much starving since the last time she ate was at lunch and the room is lit with the late afternoon sunlight.

She puts her book down on an end table and bounds up and gives him a hug. He smiles and hands her one of the bags, and then looks at Ben. "How is he?"

Adrian sighs, looking back at the bed, "Still the same. He's looking better though." Adrian remarks, before looking back at Leo. "How are you?"

"Alright, for the most part, things went smooth today at work," Leo nods, saying this as if it were a list. "I've been handling certain things with a friend of mine, to make sure things aren't too bad for Ben when he wakes up."

Adrian nods, knowing that Ben would technically have to be detained for possession and driving while impaired, but that Leo had probably already paid his bond. "When will they have the hearing?"

"Considering the situation, it's been arranged a month after he wakes up," Leo reveals and Adrian doesn't know _who_ exactly he knows to pull off that type of arrangement but she's thankful for Ben's sake. "And how are you, Adrian?"

"I'm okay, Mr. Boykewich," Adrian shrugs. "I'm finishing up summer school and then getting ready for college."

The Sausage King nods in approval, "Very good. I'm proud of you, and call me Leo."

Adrian bows her head shyly with a smile; it's not the first time he's told her to call him by his first name, she just calls him by his surname out of respect. And the compliment makes her swell, also.

"I do have to ask you something though, something that's been on my mind for a while," Leo starts and Adrian gives him her full attention. "I want to know your intentions with my son."

Adrian pauses, not really expecting that. "Honestly…I'm not sure. I want to be here because I need to know that he's okay, even if we're not together. And we've been through so much, I don't really know that there's anywhere else that I'd rather be right now."

Leo assesses her words, and sighs. "Adrian, Ben hasn't been okay in a while. He started drinking and then I had to force his hand by telling him about his mother. Now, he's doing drugs and I can't help but wonder about what these instances have in common. The night that he left and began drinking…you had a fight with him before, didn't you?" Leo inquires calmly, and Adrian begins blinking quickly in remembrance of that day. She nods numbly and he continues, "He's been…acting strange lately. _Off_. And he's been talking about you more frequently, and I can't help but wonder if anything has happened between you two recently." He says his words carefully, gauging her reaction.

One of her hands grabs at her elbow, digs into the skin. She sniffs, trying to reign in the wetness threatening to fill her eyes. "I'm the cause. Is that what you're trying to say? That I'm the reason Ben's been doing what he has lately?" Adrian asks quietly, eyes downcast to the floor.

"_No_," Leo says right away, but Adrian isn't inclined to believe that he really means it. "I just don't want my son to get hurt again, can you understand that?" He cautiously asks, and she does. She shouldn't be here. She's not in his life anymore. She's just an ex, and all she has is a ring.

"I understand," Adrian says, closing her eyes. She's so _stupid_. How could she be so smart and yet _so stupid_?

She should just leave.

And even more than that, she shouldn't have come at all.

"Dad?"

Adrian's eyes open and she turns around in a flash, Leo already going to his son's side. "Ben," Leo says, as he stares down at Ben, whose induced brown eyes are half lidded and focused on his father. Adrian steps besides Leo, gripping the bed rail. She'll leave, but not before this. Not before seeing Ben lucid and awake before her eyes. And then she'll leave him alone for good. She isn't in his life anymore, she's just an ex. Adrian smiles and Ben's eye focus on her, recognition fading and a bit more awake than before.

Leo's large hand rests on his son's head gently and he leans down, kissing his forehead.

Adrian's eyes water as Ben's curiously stay focused on her. "Hi, Ben," Adrian says with an emotion filled crack in her voice, but Ben continues staring at her blankly. Adrian's brow furrow after a moment because he keeps _staring_ at her as if he's never seen her before in his life. "Ben?"

"Son, say something," Leo urges, and Ben's gaze filters the room before he turns back to him.

"Dad," Ben starts, his voice a bit weak from disuse. "Where am I and…" He looks over at Adrian with innocent almond eyes. "Who are you?"

* * *

><p>"Post-traumatic amnesia," Dr. Peterson says observingly, holding up a CT scan from Ben's MRI. "We ran some tests, and it seems that Ben <em>can<em> recall certain places, events, and people. The only problem is that the extent of what he can remember doesn't surpass the year 2008."

_2008_, Adrian recalls mentally. That was her sophomore year, the same year Ben started high school.

"Now, PTA is typical after a car accident, especially considering the amount of head trauma your son experienced, Mr. Boykewich," Dr. Peterson continues to Leo. "The condition may resolve itself in as little as a few days; what I would recommend is maybe integrating different people he may have met between now and 2008 into visiting him, which may help jog his memory. Try telling him about different events that have occurred, showing him photos for visual aide…"

"But doctor," Leo begins with a thick voice. "How can we be so sure that Ben will even get his memories back?"

"He has his memories, Mr. Boykewich," Mr. Peterson confirms. "At the moment, they're buried in his subconscious, but it's evident that the portion of his life that he has forgotten…is because he is inadvertently blocking it out."

Adrian's eyes shut at this comment, a weary breath escaping her lips. She slips out unnoticed from the room and peers into Ben's room through the slightly open doorway.

Alice and Henry came back to visit shortly after Ben woke up and now Alice is sitting on the far part of his bed, laughing at a joke that was obviously told, Henry grinning from beside the bedrail. And it's as if everything from the past two years has been erased, Ben blissfully unaware of the fact that he cut off Henry from all communication. Because he doesn't remember it.

Ben doesn't remember it.

He doesn't _remember_.

From the outside looking in, Adrian can clearly see that Ben's smile is wide, unassuming, and ignorant.

And she knows what has to be done.

* * *

><p>"…you're all not <em>listening<em> to me!" She shouts in a room full of objections.

"We _did_ listen to you, Adrian," Rueben says tiredly, rubbing his temple in an armchair.

At the Boykewich mansion, Adrian and her parents and Alice and Henry and Camille have all gathered in Leo's throne room, with the owner sitting in his favorite chair in the middle of the room. Adrian is standing before all of them, pleading her case. "Don't you get it? Ben doesn't remember anything. He doesn't remember Mercy, and he doesn't remember what's happened or what he's been doing. He's a blank slate, he gets a second chance!" She looks at Henry, "Henry, did you forget that Ben completely stopped talking to you? Because _he_ has. Didn't you like talking to him, just like old times?" Henry bows his head shamefully, and Adrian looks at Leo. "And Mr. Boykewich, didn't you tell Ben that his mother was an alcoholic after all of these years?"

"_Adrian_!" Rueben admonishes her for bringing up the sensitive topic.

She continues as if she weren't interrupted, "And that he wasn't himself lately?" She asks beseechingly. "What if you could take it back? What if you could take back all that pain he went through? Would it be so wrong if Ben doesn't remember ever drinking or doing drugs?"

"But those are his memories, Adrian," Camille speaks up. "It's not right to keep him away from that, that's what's shaped him as a person."

"Into what type of person? Someone who's gone through Hell and back?" Adrian rounds on her, a crack in her voice. "What is it _exactly_ that you want him to remember? Being high? Getting his heart broken? Getting me pregnant and getting married and losing our daughter? I don't understand the issue of him not remembering three years of his life."

Everyone in the room winces at the harsh and inevitably destructive truths Adrian has overthrown bare for everyone to see.

Alice shakes her head, "But it's another way to lie." She looks up at Adrian with watering eyes, "We'd all be lying by omission and deceiving him."

"She's right, Adrian," Cindy murmurs, saddened by the extreme conclusion her daughter has arrived at.

"Parents lie to their children to protect them, to not take their innocence away. Ben is innocent now." Adrian states, eyes wide and impassioned with her position. "He gets to forget everything that broke him over the last year and a half and start fresh. And the doctor said it himself, Ben has his memories, he's purposefully burying them. Who are we to say that he _should_ remember?"

"And who are we to say that he shouldn't?" Leo asks her calmly.

Adrian bites her lower lip and cranes her head. "You know I'm right, Leo." She says, and he continues to look at her from his chair quietly, apprehension in his face. "You know that if you could, you would take away all of the hurt and pain Ben has gone through because you love him and you want your son back. The one that never had to hold his stillborn daughter in his hands or look at you like he had been deceived his whole life." Leo finally bows his head, emotions warring across his visage. Camille's eyes well at the indecision she knows is happening within Leo, and grips his hand.

Adrian knows she's right and deep down, they all know she is too.

"Ben is back to himself again," Adrian tries for one final plea. "He doesn't need to be forced back into having memories he doesn't want."

"And what about you, Adrian?" Rueben inquires- his expression hard. "He doesn't remember _you_."

She shrugs, but her eyes well over at the thought and she crosses her arms. "So be it. I don't care."

"You _do_ care!" Reuben stands, walking up to his daughter. "You care so much that you're willing to be the only one who has to remember that you had a daughter that died. You shouldn't have to be alone in this. That was Ben's daughter too!" Adrian turns away from him, blinking the impending flood away. She has to stay strong, she has to.

"Rueben," Cindy says from her seat. _"Calma, por favor."_

Rueben turns around, furious. _"No me digas que se calme, Cindy! Nuestra hija está tratando de hacerse un mártir."_

"I'm not _trying_ to make myself a martyr, I'm trying to do what's right!" Adrian looks at him with infuriated eyes of her own, "Why can't you see that? _Porque_?"

"Adrian," Leo says finally, and Adrian and Rueben are drawn out of their glaring match. "What would we do to make this work, if we do it?"

"Leo," Rueben says, "You're not serious. You're not actually going to go along with this?"

Adrian purses her lips and then sighs, shifting on the ball of her heel. "No one can tell him anything. As far as he's concerned, Mercy doesn't exist, and neither do I."

Rueben looks between his daughter and his friend, sees the understanding occurring between them and voices, "He has an arraignment in front of a judge next month Leo. You can't be actually considering this, Ben needs his memories back!"

"Let me be concerned with what my son needs, Rueben," Leo replies, maintaining his calm and looking at Adrian. "You know that if he keeps seeing you, he may start getting memories back."

Adrian nods, already aware of this. "I know. But because he's already seen me, I have to go back, one more time."

She doesn't need to go back, one more time. She's being selfish and she knows it, but if she's willing to erase herself from his life completely, she needs this. She needs to see him, one more time.

"That could be risky, Adrian," Leo deliberates.

"I'll be careful," Adrian promises. "I don't want him to start wondering about me since we never answered him about who I really was. I'll dress differently and give him a different name and everything; I won't give him an indication as to who I really am."

"Leo, we can't do this," Rueben tries once more. "It's wrong!"

The statement is ignored. "Alright Adrian. One more time. And then you never go back again, right?" Leo inquires, so that there is no misunderstanding.

"Right," Adrian agrees. "I'll never go back again."

* * *

><p>Adrian walks down the hospital hallway steadily, a <em>clack<em> of the heels not following her because she decided on wearing a pair of sensible flats she bought when she was pregnant. Her hair is fixed in a neat, low ponytail, cascading down her back.

Earlier in the day, she went over to Grace's and basically bombarded her closet.

The blonde groans. "_Why_ did you involve me in this?"

"Girl, I involve you in _everything_, quit pouting," Adrian quips flippantly, and pulls out a lily white sundress from the closet. It has floral print accented at the hem and a decently placed neckline. The color suggests innocence. Purity.

_Perfect_.

Adrian holds it against her frame and her lips protrude in thought, "Do you think I could pull this off?" After months and months of exercise, she had finally reached her pre-baby weight, but she wasn't one for wearing dresses unless they were very high cut or extremely fitted to her curves. This one was fitted but the hemline ended above the knee and the neckline was low but not low enough to display a long line of cleavage.

Grace looks over from the book she's reading on her bed, and looks over. "Of course you can," Grace says with a small smile. "Just make sure you don't wear heels," She remarks, looking at her book. "It'll give you away."

So here she is, in a very feminine, very modest sundress, lightly touched up with makeup, and standing outside Ben's door.

Maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe she should just turn around and leave. She should just cut ties now. It's not really imperative for her to see Ben again.

Except it is. And for that reason she grabs the handle and opens Pandora's box.

* * *

><p>Ben lies upright on the hospital bed, looking outside of his window.<p>

The past couple of days have been surreal, as if he woke up in an alternate universe of some sort. He can't even remember learning to drive, but he was in a car accident, one of his own doing. His leg is still in a lift and it took him a while to convince Alice and Henry to hand him a mirror.

There's a neatly sewn line above his eyebrow and on his cheek but he's sure with some time that it won't even be visible, just as the doctor said, and there's some minor yellow bruising, but it's receded a lot, or so he's heard. He lowers the mirror, "Is that it, guys? You made me think I looked like Frankenstein!"

And they laugh and it's like there wasn't anything wrong in the first place. After a few moments, Ben clutches at his chest, "Guys, stop, it hurts to laugh."

Alice rubs his uninjured leg gingerly, "We're just happy you're alright, Ben."

"Yeah," Henry says, relief evident in his face. "Alice and I got back together, too." He says with a cheeky grin that Alice rolls her eyes at.

Ben's brow line creases. "Got back together? You guys were _apart_?" Ben looks between both of them, puzzled. "You two are inseparable at the _hip_."

Both Alice and Henry shift uncomfortably and the room becomes awkwardly quiet. Finally, Alice looks up with a small smile, "It's doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here, with us."

And ever since then, it's been question after question bubbling up. He feels out of the loop in so many unexplainable ways, and now he has to undergo physical therapy and figure out just how much he's missed. He was surprised when they alerted him to the fact that it was 2011, to say the least. Alice and Henry were making chit chat, briefly discussing college, and it occurs to him that he's never thought of where he wants to go to school. Not really.

He still feels like that unsure eighth grader he once was.

He hears the door handle twist and he's sure it's a nurse that's come to receive his half empty plate of food. She's probably going to stress that he should eat more and that he's skinny enough as is, but he just hasn't had an appetite since he woke up.

He turns his head and is surprised at the presence of the pretty girl from two days ago. She closes the door and gives him a small smile from her pink full lips and she is _very_ pretty, just like he remembers. Exotic, with big toffee eyes and tanned skin that contrasts beautifully with the white dress she's wearing. He tries to rearrange himself upright more with his arms that still feel kind of woozy and he's hoping that he doesn't have bedhead or anything like that.

"Hi," Adrian greets, sauntering up to his bedside.

"Hello," Ben says, and he clears his throat. "I, um, I didn't get your name, the other day."

"It's Leigh."

"Leigh?" He questions uncertainly.

Adrian hums positively, her index and middle finger crossing behind her back. She went with Leigh as her alias, as it's pronounced the same as her last name, _Lee_.

"Oh," Ben nods, cracking a slow smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Leigh." He outstretches his hand, and the pretty Latina in front of him pauses. Still, he holds out his hand outstretched, patiently.

Adrian becomes apprehensive, believing that…

Oh, but that's silly, she scolds herself. Touching him isn't going to bring back any memories.

_Right?_

She reaches out and slides her palm alongside his, gripping, and shaking it.

Their hands linger on one another's for a moment longer than necessary and Ben looks into Adrian's eyes before she pulls her hand away. She laughs shyly, turning her eyes away. "I just wanted to come see you because you were kind of out of it, the other day," She murmurs.

Ben winces. "I'm sorry, I wasn't even thinking. Do we…do we know each other?" Ben asks and Adrian cranes her head amusingly at his nervousness. "Because if we do, then I'm really sorry, it's just that I've lost some of my memory and there are just some things, and I guess people, that I can't seem to recall," He rambles on, and Adrian chuckles. He's so earnest, so _cute_, and she knows he's beating up himself for something that's not even his fault.

"Nothing to worry about," Adrian reassures him. "We're just friends, Ben."

"Oh, okay," He sighs in relief, at first. His brow furrows, "Well, actually, no. I mean, if we're friends, then I'm really sorry that I can't remember you, right now." He looks at her, and her smile is full and her eyes are bright and kind. "Honestly, it's kind of mind boggling because…you don't seem like a forgettable person."

Adrian shrugs light-heartedly, "I get it. It's really not your fault," She says softly. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Ben smiles good-naturedly, "Yeah, me too, I heard I was in bad shape for a few days."

Adrian shakes her head, thinking that was the understatement of the year. "Well, you really cleaned up, didn't you?" She says, and absently outstretches her hand, runs the pad of her thumb over his jaw and below his lower lip.

Ben's eyes widen instinctively and before he could even enjoy Leigh's touch, it's gone. "Yeah," He murmurs thoughtfully. He's never had a girl do something like that before, so _forward_. He wonders how many times she's done a gesture like that towards him.

The _blip_ in the room somehow becomes louder, accelerated. It takes him a minute to realize that it's his heartbeat and he blushes when Leigh laughs because she realizes it too.

"You're so cute, Benny," Adrian laughs, and Ben's head snaps up, noticing the nickname. More questions arise, and so does his pulse, and he scolds himself internally because he's making himself look so foolish in front of her.

"So, I'm guessing you must know that I'm not the _smoothest_ guy around," Ben sighs.

"Nope," Adrian shakes her head honestly. "Never noticed."

"Really?" Ben brightens at this.

"Yeah," Adrian states. "I always thought you were a pretty confident guy."

_Confident_? Was he? Ben attempts to think of something, anything, representing this, but nothing comes to mind. "_Me_?" He asks in disbelief.

"Mmhmm," Adrian says, backing up away from the bed. "I, um, I have to go."

"Wait!" Ben calls out. "You don't…you don't _really_ have to go, do you?" He asks innocently, a crease in his brow, and Adrian stops her trek to the door. "I don't really get all that much company during the day. But if you have to go…"

Adrian knows she should, get out while it's safe to, but…

She smirks playfully, "_Well_...I guess I _could_ be persuaded to stay, for a while longer…"

* * *

><p>Thanks goes out to <strong>BasicHBKnomics<strong> (I totally love your reviews! And yes, Adrian always seems to be a threat to someone ;)), **PowerOfThree7** (so happy you're liking it so far! I didn't make Ben drunk for a good reason, I promise the explanation is coming), **Jessica** (there's trouble on the horizon, that's for sure!) and **Pamela** (I tried to get this out quick, hope you liked it!)

So _freaking_ finally! Ben's awake.

Now the **real** story begins. Reviews make me smile and update fast guys! ;)

DAC


	4. The Veil

**In Memoriam**

* * *

><p><em>The Veil<em>**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>A week goes by, and she doesn't come back.<p>

Another week goes by, and she doesn't come back.

After the span of a month, Ben finds himself yearning to see her. He's completed his physical therapy and is ready to be released.

He's going to find her.

* * *

><p>"You said you'd come with me to my orientation if I went to yours, and I went to yours!"<p>

"I know!" Grace exclaims, twisting her lips in a pout. "I just don't feel like bumping into Daniel..."

The Latina next to her rolls her eyes and her glossed lips unfurl into a playful smirk. "There are other cute guys, you know. _College_ guys."

Grace scoffs. "Between living with Jack for an entire summer, and then breaking up with Daniel, I think I've had my fill of college guys for a while to come."

"Until you find another one to sex up."

"_Adrian_!"

"Don't _'Adrian'_ me. You know what I'm saying is true," Adrian corrects with a cutting side glance. "Besides, I need a guy; someone who is completely unaware of high school drama. And I don't know, a nice one or something. I'm tired of being seen as a piece of ass," She mumbles, remembering how _handsy_ Omar was at the party before he walked out on her. She _seriously_ had to keep reminding him of where her eyes were.

The girls sit down in their seats in the assembly hall and Adrian flips through her schedule pamphlet, outlining the day's events.

Grace leans over. "I visited Ben last week."

Adrian turns another page, not skipping a beat, "Oh?"

"He asked me if I knew a girl named _Leigh_," She whispers, even though she has no reason to.

Adrian stops cold and looks over at her best friend. "What'd you say?"

Grace shrugs. "That I didn't know anyone by that name."

"Good," Adrian nods her approval. Grace, however, is less than pleased.

"Adrian…I have a bad feeling about this. A _really_ bad feeling about this," Grace disclaims. Adrian doesn't miss the red tinting of her cheeks though. "He remembered me, when he saw me," The blonde murmurs, a touch of awe in her voice. "When we were going out, he told me he had a crush on me back in middle school, and he _remembered_, and he was _so surprised_ to see me there, but…I think he remembers liking me."

Adrian knows Grace enough to know that there's more she wants to say. Hell, she knows Ben enough to know that his dream probably came true, seeing _Grace Bowman_ come visit him in the hospital. How _flushed_ and _blustered_ he must've gotten, how _cute_ he must've appeared, and how Grace probably fell for that all over again. If anything, Adrian knows she probably never stopped having a thing for Ben, she just backed off and moved on when the relationship came to an abrupt halt.

Adrian cranes her head considerably. Ben remembers Grace, and maybe that alone is a sign that they're meant to be. That she was just a detour and maybe Ben and Grace are really a match. They're both good people, they're both her friends. And Ben deserved a nice girl –an _actual_ nice girl and not some wannabe with red hair.

"I think you should keep visiting him," Adrian decides. "Maybe even take him out, once he gets out." She murmurs this as subtly as she can, but if she's being honest, she's not _really_ of the subtle sort, and Grace knows this better than anyone.

The blonde's jaw falls open unabashedly. "Adrian, I –_he_- I couldn't _do that_!"

"Why not?" Adrian inquires curiously. "I mean, he really likes you, and you like him, I _know_ you like him-"

"But it's not right!" Grace exclaims. "Our relationship finished."

"Who says? Neither of you really broke up with the other," Adrian deliberates logically. "Look, I think it's a good idea. He could use someone like you while he gets better, maybe even as _a shoulder to lean on_." She says and Grace's eyes widen. It was originally Grace's thought, that night Ben was parked in front of Amy's. Adrian was just close by and she used that to her advantage, but this just adds to her logic. Grace should be with Ben, and maybe she should've always been.

"That's not fair, Adrian," Grace mumbles. "You can't do that to Ben, or to me."

"I'm not doing anything! And tell me you haven't thought about the _'what ifs'_ with Ben?"

Grace opens her mouth to debate the point, and then closes it again when she doesn't find a rebuttal that isn't completely untrue.

"That's what I thought," Adrian said, looking down at the schedule in her hand. "I think Ben could use someone like you, so you should go for it." The Latina murmurs genuinely. "I would even rather it be you than-"

"Dylan?" Grace asks quietly.

Adrian doesn't answer immediately. She closes up her pamphlet and sighs. "I thought she was a nice girl, but she isn't. And I wanted them to go out because, like Ben said, we _both_ need to move on. But she isn't nice, Grace. Nice people don't do what she did. I mean, I'm not a saint either, but…" Adrian shakes her head clear. She's a bad person –_a bad girl_- but she would've never done what Dylan did to anyone, and _especially_ not to Ben. "Ben deserves a clean slate. And Dylan fooled him the first time –Hell, fooled _everyone_ the first time. And I don't want him to get caught up. Do you get it now?"

Grace doesn't answer immediately. She freezes and Adrian looks over in the direction she's staring in. She rolls her eyes. "You're going to have to talk to Daniel eventually."

"It doesn't have to be today," Grace says quickly and takes the pamphlet Adrian has in her hands and holds it up closely enough to obscure her face.

Adrian chuckles and shakes her head. "Suit yourself," She smirks.

* * *

><p><em>"Wait!" Ben calls out. "You don't…you don't <em>really_ have to go, do you?" He asks innocently, a crease in his brow, and Adrian pauses. "I don't really get all that much company during the day." He blinks, eyes down ridden and somewhat hollowed by this fact. "But if you _have_ to go…"_

_She looks over her shoulder, hand on the knob, and smirks playfully, "__Well__...I guess I __could__ be persuaded to stay, for a while longer…" She closes the door, and Ben physically sighs in relief. He doesn't really know or understand why but he couldn't bear having her leave that soon, if even at all at this point. It was almost as if all the air escaped the room and he hadn't realized he was suffocating until she came back. He knows he's probably imposing and he almost slaps his palm against his forehead – what if she really _did_ have something important to do? He just guilt tripped her!_

"_Leigh, I'm sorry," He apologizes earnestly, as she pulls up a chair by his side. "Really, if you have to go, don't feel like you have to stay."_

"_I want to," Adrian smiles. This is the last time I'm ever going to see you, she doesn't say._

"_Good," Ben smiles back. "So, um, how did we meet?" He asks apprehensively, wondering how he could've met this girl…_woman_, and _not_ remember._

_Adrian laughs, "School, how else?"_

"_Right, right," Ben nods, though still confused. He has no doubt in his mind that he met her at school and saw her. The question is, how did she see _him_? And Grace! He remembers suddenly. Grace Bowman with her long blonde locks and bright smile and infectious giggle…well, he figures he shouldn't dwell over this –she always was out of his league, even though- his tongue rakes the top and bottom portion of his teeth and he actually realizes that he is no longer wearing braces. "I'm not wearing braces," he blurts out._

_Adrian cranes her head, "Yeeeeeah…"_

"_I used to have braces, and now …I don't have them anymore," He says slowly in way of an explanation and a grin forms on his face. _

"_So, I guess you think you're some stud now, huh?" _

"_No, no- that's not-"_

_Adrian grins back, "You should. You kind of are."_

"Really_?" Ben asks, unbelieving of the development._

_Adrian looks down, fiddles with her sapphire ring. "We used to not like each other, _at all_."_

"_So what happened?" Ben inquires. Adrian shrugs._

"_I don't know," Adrian murmurs. It was funny, that summer Ben left to Bologna was the summer she grew the close to him, and they were miles apart. Even when she was spending her days, and most of her nights, with Ricky, they still talked. They still cared._

"_Why wouldn't I like you?" Ben asks quietly._

"_We were just…different. Hung out with different types of people. You were into nice girls, and I…wasn't so nice."_

_Ben looks at her, almond brown eyes wide. "You look nice to me."_

_Adrian smiles weakly, swallows a scoff. "Looks _can_ be deceiving, you know," She smirks._

"_Can they?" Ben asks back. "We're friends."_

_Adrian grins. "Of course."_

* * *

><p>The door of the neatly decorated bedroom creaks open and curious eyes stare in from the opposite side. After a moment, the door opens fully and one by one, three teenage girls file in.<p>

Dylan looks up from the novel she is reading, beams at the familiar faces of her three best friends. "Hi guys," She smiles as each of the girls hug her in the order of which they came into the room. Mercedes sits by her bedside, stroking her one free hand since the other was in a cast, Wendy leans back against the counter on the opposite wall, brushing her now neon pink hair behind her ear, and Raven stands up with her arms crossed and hip jutted to the side, head cocked in concern.

"How are you?" Mercedes asks first, breaking the silence.

"How do you think she is?" Raven rebuts the question with another and a roll of her eyes. Her arm extends out, gesturing the redhead, "She was rammed into a tree by that idiot."

"Actually," Dylan points out softly, "Ben had more damage done to him, not me."

"Oh, whatever," Raven scoffs. "If he could drive better, this wouldn't have happened."

"_No_ Raven," Wendy snipes back from her corner of the room, a frown on her face. "If he wasn't given _pot_ in the first place-" Raven rushes over to the Asian girl, covers her mouth with her hand quickly. She looks around needlessly since it is only the four of them filling the small space.

"If _anyone_ finds out that we gave him pot," Raven hisses. "We're going to be in _so_ much trouble. No more hanging out. No more blazing."

"Does that even _matter_ anymore?" Wendy questions her with a disbelieving shake of her head.

"Dylan could have gotten killed," Mercedes agrees with Wendy.

"Ben can't remember anything," Dylan reveals numbly.

All three girls pause to look at their bed-ridden friend. Dylan looks somber, earmarking her book and closing it to be placed by her side.

Raven speaks first. "What do you mean, he can't remember anything?"

Dylan shrugs, "I-I don't know," The ginger's voice cracks and her wide eyes pool with tears. "I haven't seen him yet because Leo has only let in a few people in the room but I heard one of his friends say that he doesn't remember anything, and-" Her face is now red with a torrent of tears cascading over it. "What if he doesn't remember me?"

Mercedes nods understandingly, while Wendy's face is covered by her hand over her mouth in shock, but it is Raven who once again breaks the silence, her face splitting into a grin. "Don't you get it, Dylan? This is perfect."

The three friends look at their fourth incredulously.

"_Perfect_?" Mercedes echoes in disgust.

"Yeah, how do you figure that?" Wendy shakes her head.

"It's _perfect_ that Ben doesn't remember me?" Dylan all but screeches.

"No, it's perfect because if he doesn't remember anything, then they have no way to pin us for giving him the pot." Raven stresses.

"But they _do_ know that Ben was under the influence," Dylan mutters.

"Doesn't matter," Raven grins. "Ben can't remember how it happened and there'd be no way for anyone else to know beyond a shadow of a doubt."

"But what about _me_?" Dylan pouts. "My boyfriend probably doesn't remember me!"

"Your _boyfriend_ is still yours." Raven smirks. "Because you're just going to have to make him fall for you again. Just because he doesn't remember, doesn't mean he wouldn't know that he likes you, and if he fell for you once, then it can happen again.

"That's so messed up," Mercedes scoffs, her blonde hair bouncing.

"Yeah, I can't believe you would suggest that," Wendy frowns.

"_Really_?" Dylan inquires innocently with pubescent eyes and a bright smile. "Ben can be mine again?"

Raven smiles, sits on the side of Dylan's bed and puts her hand on her shoulder. "I'll make sure of it."

* * *

><p>Grace heaves a sigh of exasperation, rolling her eyes as Adrian lays her hand and squeezes the bicep of one of the various guys surrounding her. With a pinched smile, she sneaks her way in between two sophomores and discreetly tugs on the side of Adrian's blouse. "Adrian."<p>

Adrian turns with an upturned brown and a strained smile of her own at the unexpected interruption. "_What_?"

"We've _totally_ lost the tour group."

Adrian looks around past the crowd and- "Oh, I guess we have."

"You know, I could give you a more _private_ tour of campus," The arm candy Adrian has her hand around murmurs helpfully. "Show you all the places you need to know."

The Latina smirks. "Is that so?"

"_Adrian_!"

"Wha-_aat_?" Adrian growls out lowly, severely annoyed at the blonde.

Grace, with a polite smile, grabs Adrian's arm, "She'll be back in just a moment." Leading Adrian away from the group, the Latina looks back, making a _call me_ gesture with her hand up to her ear. She sighs when they reach the corner edge of the auditorium, already expecting to be berated by her best friend.

"I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work," Grace shakes her head with a cross of her arms. "You can't just go out with someone and make yourself forget Ben."

"I'm not!" Adrian protests, "But while we're on the subject, why shouldn't I? Ben and I are over, he can't remember because he doesn't _want_ to remember, and there's nothing between us anymore."

Grace rolls her eyes. "Except your daughter."

"Whom he doesn't remember –_drop it_!" Adrian hisses.

The girls are silent, Adrian crosses her arms and Grace shifts from one foot to the other.

"I can't keep taking care of him, Grace. He needs a fresh start –I need a fresh start- and he needs…someone who isn't me right now. I'm not even going to be in high school when school starts up next week, and I know him, he's not going to last too long without a girlfriend, which is why I need you to watch him." Grace scoffs at that, "_Or_ you could just be his girlfriend; I mean, he's single and you're single-"

"And what are you going to say next? That we both had braces at one point, so we should just hookup?" Grace suggests sarcastically.

Adrian beams, "_See_? I didn't even know that, but that's also a good reason, you have things in _common_!"

Grace juts her chin out, biting the inner corner of her cheek. "You know who _else_ has a lot of things in common with Ben?"

Adrian groans. "Promise me you'll keep her away from him."

"_Adrian_," Grace whines. "Just stop pretending that you don't care and _tell him_."

"Tell him what?" Adrian exclaims. "That I ruined his life? That I took his virginity and slept with his best friend? Ben actually talks to Henry now when he couldn't even make eye contact with him this summer. All I'm asking is for you to be his friend, you're a great friend, possibly even the best. That's why you're my best friend," Adrian says genuinely. "Be my best friend, please?"

Grace huffs, shoulders relaxing, "What would you do without me?"

Adrian smiles.

* * *

><p>The door opens and for the first time in a little over a month, Ben enters his bedroom, a stagnant ray of sunlight streaming in from the bay window onto his neat linen. He looks around, and smiles. There was at least one thing in his world that stayed exactly the same.<p>

He traces his bed linen with the pads of his fingertips, and sits down on his bed, reacquainting himself with the familiar sensation. He opens his top drawer in curiosity and notices that his stash of condoms is completely gone.

_Huh_.

Instead, there are a couple of books that he doesn't pay immediate attention to, and upon further inspection, a ring.

He plucks it from the bottom of the drawer, and stares at the band of gold between his fingers. On a whim, he puts it on and it fits; takes it off and examines it again. Definitely not his father's and it was in his room. But why?

He sighs and places it back in the drawer; he'll have to ask about that later.

His door opens and his attention snaps to his father in the doorway. He forces a smile and looks around before meeting his father's eyes. "It still looks the same."

Leo smiles back, "Of course it does. Did you expect it not to?"

Ben shrugs, "It just doesn't seem like the bedroom of someone who does marijuana."

The Sausage King sighs heavily, his smile gone. "No, it doesn't." Leo says, looking around. "But maybe it's because it doesn't belong to someone who uses marijuana."

Ben looks down, raking his hand through his hair. "I don't know what happened to cause me to do something like that, but I _promise_, it won't happen again."

Leo enters the room further, crossing over to the window. "Ben, there's something you need to know."

Ben looks up from his puzzled reverie, "Dad?"

Leo is quiet for a few moments. Ben's brow furrows in confusion, and Leo finally speaks. "There was someone else in the car with you."

Ben's eyes widen in shock, and he tenses, his hands squeezing his knees. "What? _Who_? Are they okay? Were they in the hospital-"

"She's fine, Ben," Leo says quickly. "She's fine."

"She?" Ben questions.

"She." Leo confirms. "A girl named Dylan." Ben mouths the name _Dylan_, testing it on his tongue in hopes of remembering, but to no avail. Finally, Leo says, "I want you to stay far away from her, Benjamin."

Ben's mouth opens and closes, his mind attempting to process the onslaught of information. "Why would you want me to stay away from her?" He asks quietly. "Shouldn't I at least say that I'm sorry? For hurting her?"

Leo shakes his head, pushes two fingers into his temple and rubs it in a circular motion. "She's fine, I've handled everything and made it clear that you are very apologetic."

Ben looks up at his father's back, confused. His father wouldn't do something like that, at least not the Leo Boykewich he knew. The Leo Boykewich he knew would have him apologize in person, own up to the nearly fatal mistake he made. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

A moment passes. And then another after that. "I don't trust her, Ben. I can't prove it, but I think she had a hand in what happened. Can you just promise me to stay away from her?"

Ben nods, "Of course, Dad." Leo goes to leave the room, "But what about Leigh?"

Leo stops, turns back, "Who?"

"Leigh," Ben repeats. "Uh, she visited me, but then never came back and… she said we were friends."

Leo's brow creases. "You don't know anyone by that name, son."

"But I have to. She came to visit me, and…" Ben trails off uncertainly when Leo continues to stare at him in concern.

Leo puts his hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, Ben?"

Ben, at a loss, opens and closes his mouth in the same manner a fish would. He couldn't have imagined her. He couldn't have. He touched her, she was _real_…

_But what if I did?_

Ben shakes his head, forces a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just… I dunno, maybe I'm having some sort of weird case of déjà vu or something. It's nothing."

"You've had a long day," Leo nods, taking his hand off of his son's shoulder. "Get some rest," He suggests as he closes the bedroom door.

Ben sits on his bed, mind in a jumble. Perhaps it was an effect of his condition. He couldn't believe it when _Grace Bowman_ came to visit him, perfect goddess she is. For all he knew, he could've imagined that up too, it would make sense since in his wildest fantasies; he couldn't imagine _Grace Bowman_ going anywhere for the strict purpose of seeing _him_. Of making sure _he_ was okay. He was even more shocked to find out that she didn't have a boyfriend.

But as surreal as it was to have Grace Bowman visit him… Leigh was an even bigger enigma. She was direct, but somehow guarded, as if she laid her entire hand bare, but you still couldn't see all of the cards. It was confusing and intriguing all at the same time. She knew so much, but relayed so little.

She said that they met at school. That they were friends.

He's going to find her.

* * *

><p>Many thanks to <strong>PowerOfThree7<strong>, **Pamela**, **BasicHBKnomics**, **slotatloverr**, **BlackStreak1**, **woowoo13**, and **tatrawrzilla**, as well as **Princess Pinky** for the beta; all stories will be updated more frequently now that I'm out of university for the summer.

This chapter was mostly filler, more story soon.

DAC


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